My character + couple questions

By Nox0688, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Hello folks, had a couple questions my GM was unsure about, and he recommended that I check forums for them.

My Character's name is Ren "Upgrade" Ryder", and his career's are Outlaw Tech/Mercenary, mainly focusing on the Outlaw Tech career, I picked up Mercenary to give me access to Leadership since he is assembling a large crew, as well as combat skills.

Upgrade is a human, but slowly throughout the story he is becoming more and more cyborg, without any reguard to the social stigmas of becoming cyborg, taking things he finds and adding it to his cybernetic limbs, so far he has installed an arm from a super battle droid, an "R2 dongle" for hacking computers on his other hand, and he engineered a shock fist on the later arm.

Small bit of backstory (still a WIP that I am coming up with as I go) Upgrade learned all his mechanic/computer skills from his father, whom was kidnapped by Imperial slavers and being forced to work on/help develop the Death Star, all Upgrade knows is that his father is now a slave, does not know where, what he is doing, or for whom, so Upgrade has a huge hatred towards slavers, and helps free slaves whenever he can, his ships medic, a letha Twi'lek, he purchased the freedom for from a Hutt for 7,000 credits, and she then joined his crew (paid).

Upgrade lost his arms and half of one of his legs somehow during the events of his father's abduction, I haven't quite worked out the details, but when asked he will either reply that he does not like to talk about it, or pull a Joker, and make up some random story to avoid talking about the true incident.

After his father's upduction (Upgrade was about 16 years old), he took command of his father's ship, an Action VI Bulk Transport dubbed "Raptor's Burden", in true Upgrade fashion heavily modified, consisting of TIE Fighter wings bolted all over the side that provide additional solar power, a tractor beam, and grappling arm, working on acquiring some weapons, have not ran into anything good yet in game.

His crew consist of.

Himself of course.

Vee'Vee, a Jawa (yea, yea...I hadn't came up with a name for him yet til we started the campaign and it was the first thing that popped in my mind...leave me alone! ) first mate/side kick, whom he started the campaign with, having been with him shortly after taking control of his father's ship.

"Cookie", the super battle droid he took his arm from, replacing the arm with a spatula, giving him a chef hat to wear, and reprogrammed to be the ship's cook.

Miraak, a Maraluk, pilot. Met him at a bar and hired him..just added him to my crew last game, so not much to tell.

Liz, Letha Twi'lek, ship's medic. She joined the team when Upgrade and Vivi did some illegal modifications to some of a Hutt's droids, weaponizing a few domestic droids, and then used then asked to buy a slave from him after winning the Hutt's gratitude.

Team Z, four super battle droids he bought on the black market, named Zed, Zir, Zim and Zax.

"R-Fro" an R5 unit that has the personality quirk as if he grew up in the hood, given to him for free when he asked the price from some Jawas at a sandcrawler, pushing it to upgrade yelling, "Take it take it take it! Its free!"

Repair droid: Purchased from the previously mentioned Jawas.

-----------------------------

Now to my questions

Doing the modifications to my cybernetic limbs has costed me using my points in "Tinkerer" from my outlaw tech tree, I have already used both points and am interested in gaining more ranks to further modify his limbs/gear. Is there a way to get more then two points that the tree offers? I suggested a house rule of being able to buy more ranks at the expense that it becomes either 5 or 10 points more expensive each time it is taken. Are there any ruling that already exist for it? or what are some other ways house rules that may work better?

Next question.

Upgrade recently came into possession of several junked hover bikes on a scavenge at a junkyard, he broke all of them down and sold most of the parts to a dealer, and kept two sets of the best parts to build some swoop bikes, as well as purchasing some droid motherboards with the intention of inventing swoop bikes that have computerized weapon systems, as well as being able to call it to him fromwherever it is parked, and any other functions he can think of while he is programming it. Since I am building the bikes from the ground up from scratch, what limitations and rulings do I need to take into consideration? Hard points?

Anyways, thanks to anyone who read everything, and any comments that may come, happy gaming!

Well to question 2 there are no item construction rules yet. those will likely be in the tech splat book. But we do not know what order the last 3 books will come out in.

You might be able to get more tinkerer talents from an age of rebellion specialization or in a specialization from the tech splat book when it comes out.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Has the Tech Splat Book been confirmed? and if so when is the projected release date? I'll definitely inform my GM, thanks again!

Also, any thoughts on my character? I tried making everything lore-friendly as I could, and doing my best not to Mary-Sue or min-max, a lot of my plans for his tech/upgrades I am holding back til I feel the rest of the party is powerful enough that he does not become to OP.

Not confirmed no expected date. But strong evidence that is the plan. the pattern has been adventure, splat, region, splat, Adventure. Splat region announced and at printer.

They have done 3 splat books for already. Explorer, Mercenary, Colonist. 1 announced for Age. the Ace. Which is at the printer. the next region book for edge the Hutt space region book is also at the printer. Which makes me guess a december release for both at it takes about 5 weeks for the boat trip and the books have been being printers for a couple weeks now.

so we expect splat books for every career and maybe more than one per career. But we won't know until FFG announces it and FFG does not announce until shortly before the books go to the printers. Largely because that is smart publishing.

As to your character. Interesting. But what is important is are they fun? Do the other player enjoy them(even if the characters may not)? Does your GM enjoy them?

Gadgeteer (Bounty Hunter) has one rank of Tinkerer and in Age of Rebellion Scientist (Engineer) has two.

There aren't any rules (yet) for building a vehicle from the ground up. I'd suggest your GM use the Cost and Silhouette of an equivalent vehicle to determine the difficulty of the task and the time it'll take to build.

e.g. Difficulty would be Cost divided by X and Time would be Sil. multiplied by Y (away from book, so I'm loathe to guess at values for X and Y)

Edited by Col. Orange

Not confirmed no expected date. But strong evidence that is the plan. the pattern has been adventure, splat, region, splat, Adventure. Splat region announced and at printer.

They have done 3 splat books for already. Explorer, Mercenary, Colonist. 1 announced for Age. the Ace. Which is at the printer. the next region book for edge the Hutt space region book is also at the printer. Which makes me guess a december release for both at it takes about 5 weeks for the boat trip and the books have been being printers for a couple weeks now.

so we expect splat books for every career and maybe more than one per career. But we won't know until FFG announces it and FFG does not announce until shortly before the books go to the printers. Largely because that is smart publishing.

As to your character. Interesting. But what is important is are they fun? Do the other player enjoy them(even if the characters may not)? Does your GM enjoy them?

So perhaps bounty hunter and an adventurer before Tech? still not to long.

Upgrade is pretty well liked both OC and IC in my group, the entire group is rocking "Upgrade Tech" ships, weapons, and droids, and he is a very honest guy who creates/sells illegal technology. He comes across as kinda greedy at first, but then you see he does selfless things with his money, such as freeing Liz from Hutt slavery, and all the enhancements he does for the group for dirt cheap, or barter.

Gadgeteer (Bounty Hunter) has one rank of Tinkerer and in Age of Rebellion Scientist (Engineer) has two.

There aren't any rules (yet) for building a vehicle from the ground up. I'd suggest your GM use the Cost and Silhouette of an equivalent vehicle to determine the difficulty of the task and the time it'll take to build.

e.g. Difficulty would be Cost divided by X and Time would be Sil. multiplied by Y (away from book, so I'm loathe to guess at values for X and Y)

Just checked out Gadgeteer, I (my GM rather) have the core book, so I can't look into Scientist yet.

It is an option to get 1 more rank, but a very expensive one, it would cost me 40xp to buy the talent tree since I'm already duel Outlaw Tech/Mercenary then another 50 to get the Tinkerer point. My GM averages rewarding about 10-15 xp per session every week, so it might be an option way down the line once my other two trees are done.

Cost is already covered, my character has already acquired everything needed to build two Speeder/swoop bikes, as well as all the computer components needed to give it AI. Difficulty is going to be hard to judge, my plans are a lot similar to a stock speeder/swoop bike, but adding in the computer components to allow auto-pilot so that it can be signaled to come to me on its own, and to have its weapons lock on targets, would make it much more complicated to build. Most likely to overcome the difficulty Upgrade is not going to attempt begging construction til 5 ranks in mechanics, and have assistance from the NPC crew members who have mechanic skills (The jawa, pilot, and repair droid)

The thing the GM and I cannot figure out is what I can do, since this is Upgrade's own invention, there is no set number of Hard Points, and I've got the AI system and four blasters built in (two forward facing on the front, two more mounted on the sides that can rotate in all directions).

For stats, it seems to be a cross between the Aratech 74-Z Military Speeder bike, and the Mobquet Flare-S Swoop, both on page 250.

As for the value of the one being created, its kinda in the air, they are using scavenged parts, but completely refurbished, but the value of new two of a kind tech, labor, custom programmed AI, and all that good stuff, could skyrocket the price if he passes all the checks to create them.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the help!

Gadgeteer (Bounty Hunter) has one rank of Tinkerer and in Age of Rebellion Scientist (Engineer) has two.

There aren't any rules (yet) for building a vehicle from the ground up. I'd suggest your GM use the Cost and Silhouette of an equivalent vehicle to determine the difficulty of the task and the time it'll take to build.

e.g. Difficulty would be Cost divided by X and Time would be Sil. multiplied by Y (away from book, so I'm loathe to guess at values for X and Y)

This would work for me. I'd also add the idea that threats that occur during the mechanics check may result in a lower system strain threshold or even some sort of quirk (like something from the critical hit chart) that pops up if you generate threats (maybe 3 or more) during the piloting (planetary) check. This would represent the fact building something custom from the ground up using random components does not always go to plan.

In your campaign, does everyone have their own ship and crew with several NPCs?

Out of 5 PCs there are 3 ships, my Action VI bulk transport, a YT2400, and a Lambda class T4A, also there is a Landspeeder, I'm building the 2nd speeder for one of the other PCs to use.

Other then my NPC droids, there is am ex-stormtrooper NPC and protocol droid (that I did some illegal mods to) with the T4A crew, and on the YT2400 there is my R5 unit on loan, and some sort of force sensitive creature that grew in the kitchen. Upgrade's motivation is having his own small faction, so I've been working towards that.

Cool. Only one more suggestion, add the second 'D' to your name...

upgrayedd.jpg

Sorry. I couldn't resist any longer!

Upgrade recently came into possession of several junked hover bikes on a scavenge at a junkyard, he broke all of them down and sold most of the parts to a dealer, and kept two sets of the best parts to build some swoop bikes, as well as purchasing some droid motherboards with the intention of inventing swoop bikes that have computerized weapon systems, as well as being able to call it to him fromwherever it is parked, and any other functions he can think of while he is programming it. Since I am building the bikes from the ground up from scratch, what limitations and rulings do I need to take into consideration? Hard points?

I believe either the DC or FH splat book featured a tool that allowed you to call your ship to a location. As I recall there was a basic variant as well as a more advanced model that did more than just call it to your location. The advanced model along with a targeting array or a droid brain would settle you on parts (at least in my mind). Then I can't imagine it being anything more than a Hard check. Maybe a couple setbacks if he scavanged the brain out of a protocol droid or something ill designed for firing weapons. But if he scrounged it out of a battle droid, I don't see any major issues.

I'd maybe do it in two checks. Mechanics to assemble everything and then Computers to program the targeting systems. I'd leave it up to your GM to decide if the Computers check needs a upgrade; those friend/foe detectors can be tricky...

Maybe a Triumph or a lot of Advantage could give you an extra point of base damage.

I believe either the DC or FH splat book featured a tool that allowed you to call your ship to a location.

Suns of Fortune (pp. 100-101) has the Remote Activation Controller (short and long range) and the Cybernetic Avionics Interface. I forgot about those until you mentioned them...but it may be dangerous to mention them to a PC with such an extreme surgical addiction.

Edited by Domingo

Upgrade recently came into possession of several junked hover bikes on a scavenge at a junkyard, he broke all of them down and sold most of the parts to a dealer, and kept two sets of the best parts to build some swoop bikes, as well as purchasing some droid motherboards with the intention of inventing swoop bikes that have computerized weapon systems, as well as being able to call it to him fromwherever it is parked, and any other functions he can think of while he is programming it. Since I am building the bikes from the ground up from scratch, what limitations and rulings do I need to take into consideration? Hard points?

I believe either the DC or FH splat book featured a tool that allowed you to call your ship to a location. As I recall there was a basic variant as well as a more advanced model that did more than just call it to your location. The advanced model along with a targeting array or a droid brain would settle you on parts (at least in my mind). Then I can't imagine it being anything more than a Hard check. Maybe a couple setbacks if he scavanged the brain out of a protocol droid or something ill designed for firing weapons. But if he scrounged it out of a battle droid, I don't see any major issues.

I'd maybe do it in two checks. Mechanics to assemble everything and then Computers to program the targeting systems. I'd leave it up to your GM to decide if the Computers check needs a upgrade; those friend/foe detectors can be tricky...

Maybe a Triumph or a lot of Advantage could give you an extra point of base damage.

I believe either the DC or FH splat book featured a tool that allowed you to call your ship to a location.

Suns of Fortune (pp. 100-101) has the Remote Activation Controller (short and long range) and the Cybernetic Avionics Interface. I forgot about those until you mentioned them...but it may be dangerous to mention them to a PC with such an extreme surgical addiction.

Awesome, thanks!

I told my GM about that, and I think we might go 50/50 on buying that book :)